Okay. It's time for me to get back to life. Enough already.

I've been critting. Have you noticed? Have you received a crit from me? Can you tell I've been busy?

I've also written a little bit and I've brought a few things in from the garage and I'm putting books back on the shelves. I'm managing to use up all the veggies from my CSA box. Last night I took the Guinness-braised beef with potatoes and added more beef broth and a head of cabbage, and made herbed buttermilk buscuits for dinner.

I miss wine.

The reason I miss it, is that Rick can't drink while he's on pain meds and, in honor of the sickness and health part, I'm abstaining, too. Sort of. I had a glass of wine when some friends came over last week. Hey, I had to pour it for them...

He's working on getting off the meds. Only one a day, now. I can't wait.

I think it's thinking about cooling off, around here. Maybe today, it will only get to 85. One can hope. It's supposed to rain on Friday (I think it always rains on Halloween, around here).

So what are y'all doing for Halloween? I'm wearing my witch costume. Sometimes I'm the cat alien in the Star Trek uniform (as seen in the picture), but I've outgrown the uniform, these days. I promise that's a temporary state of affairs.

So I'll be a witch. The cat alien is an alter-ego. The witch part is for real.

The decorations are subdued this year, but I don't feel bad about it. I know when I've been overwhelmed. No point trying to kill myself getting down all the cool stuff. I'm taking it easy.

But I'm still excited about Halloween.